The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark unveiled a new brand identity in 2017, coinciding with its 20th anniversary season. The identity was designed by Pentagram, the international design consultancy, with Paula Scher serving as the partner who directed the rebranding.[1] The project team included Jeff Close, who worked on the identity under Scher’s direction.[2]
Design and History
Pentagram designed the brand identity to celebrate the vibrancy of NJPAC, which presents a broad range of programming spanning classical, jazz, rock, pop, urban and world music, as well as dance, musicals, comedy, poetry and family programs.[3] The Arts Center needed a flexible system that would support all of its initiatives and promote a cohesive institutional image.[3]
The identity was built around a custom proprietary typeface called NJPAC Sans, exclusive to the Arts Center. The font is based on ARS Novelty, designed by Angus Shamal, which blends an elegant high contrast serif with a geometric monoline sans. Working with the Pentagram team, Shamal expanded on this for the NJPAC typeface, drawing new letters, tweaking existing letterforms, and developing a completely new book weight along with italics for each weight.[3]
The NJPAC logotype appears in all lowercase to make it friendly and accessible.[3] The type is complemented by a graphic treatment that isolates titles and secondary typography in staggered color blocks, providing a flexible system that helps highlight, organize and unify information. The blocks can also be used in lockups to create sub-brands for various programs, departments and initiatives.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The defining feature of NJPAC Sans is its distinctive swashes, which add quirkiness and a defining signature characteristic to the branding and suggest the multitude of programs. There are several different swash alternates for certain letters, as seen in the “j” in the logotype.[3] The classic-contemporary hybrid of the typeface is a nod to NJPAC’s previous logo, which mixed serif and sans serif typography, and suggests the range of experiences at NJPAC.[3]
Typography and Design
A vibrant color palette adds dynamism to the stagger of the boxed titles. The bright orange and yellows stand apart from New York identities, which predominantly rely on stark black and white.[3] The approach accommodates different types of imagery, whether color or black-and-white photography, and provides a framework where individual programs and performances can shine within the institution.[3]
Pentagram previously designed environmental graphics for the NJPAC Lucent Technologies Center for Arts Education, a school affiliated with NJPAC.[4]
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